Belgium calling....

...once again Belgium called and Sara happily answered.

Tuesday afternoon I spent with Sara getting ready for her 3rd trip, in two months, to Belgium!Once again there is a big go-cart race. Sara was able to hitch a ride with some friends who were going to race. (They had room in their van for 1 more.) She was able to get herself a cheap hotel room together with her friend Christine so all in all the trip is costing her about £50!! (thats with hotel, food and travel for 5 days!!) How does she do it??? I suppose the saying - "Where theres a will there´s a way" is so true, especially in her case.

She left yesterday - Wednesday. She will spend the time watching the races and reporting on it. She is the "offical" journalist for one of the go-cart websites, so she has to follow all the races closely and take notes on how the different people drive, what position they finish etc. So glad I dont have to do it - I would be soooo bored. I really dont know where she gets this love of motorsport - oh well maybe I do!!! The apple doesnt fall far from the tree.....dads tree!!


Talking about trees......on Wednesday afternoon while Leah was at horse riding I popped by my friend Rhona. In her garden she had the most beautiful tree. We sat in the garden drinking tea, well she drank tea, I drank apple cider. We ate the most delicious cake (Rhona is brilliant at making food and baking cakes!) and we enjoyed her beautiful tree! She had just come home from a weekend in Paris with her hubby and so she had lots to tell. It was so wonderful to see her and hear all about her trip. (It was also good to see her wee puppy Abbey - last time I saw her she was so tiny!)

Thats life....

Well this weekend was wonderful. I did nothing but relax - well almost nothing but relax. I did have a pile of dishes to clear up on Saturday (from the Friday night visit of my colleagues.)I did a bit of food shopping as well, and a couple of piles of clothes got washed. That was about all I could get myself to do.

Sara and Kristian went off on Saturday to a go-kart race - yes the season has started again. They would spend the night at Signe (Kristians sisters house). Andrew was over staying with his friend Thomas. So it was only Leah and me at home. We decided to make the most of it. We actually enjoyed the peace and quiet. We downloaded some films and crawled into bed early. We had a really cosy evening watching "Bride Wars". Then Leah headed into her own bed. I lay on in mine and watched another film - "Last chance Harvey". It was really rather sweet and oh soooo relaxing!!

Sunday afternoon we planned to go on a bike ride to a wee lake close by but did we do that? No!! - we totally relaxed all afternoon and stuffed our faces with ice-cream and chocolate. It was wonderful - just what we needed!! haha

We ate a late dinner and just as we were about to sit down and eat the door bell rang. There on the doorstep was Jette, Philip and Jonathan. It was so fantastic to get unexpected guests. They just decided to drop by and see if we were home. They ended up sharing dinner with us. There was lots to go around. It really made my day, just having someone come by unannounced...it really felt like home!!

Late in the evening Kristian and Sara arrived home - the race had gone ok - she finished 10th which I thought was fantastic - but Sara was not satisfied with that - she wanted to do better....ah, well there is always the next race!

Bowling, golf and tennis - all in the one night!

Tonight started with a visit to see some art. My colleague Dorthe had two of her paintings hanging in an exhibition, so me and my colleagues from work went to see the exhibition. When finished there we headed home to us to eat and have some fun.

We ordered some Thai food - delicious!! I had made a pavalova and cheese cake for dessert, (which once again tasted soooo good. I am getting rather good at this!! Unbelieveable!! haha)

Then it was time to play! We had invited some of our "old" colleagues along so Anne and Thomas were there. Anne had taken her Wii machine along. We re-arranged some of the furniture and then we played bowling, golf, and tennis. Great fun.

When the others went home, Thomas and Anne stayed a little longer. Thomas and Kristian had a great time trying to beat each other in bowling. Both really WANTED to win!

Anne and I had a tennis match, she won! I think I might want to get one of these Wii things! We had so much fun with it.

Now all thats left to do is a PILE of dishes - YUK, maybe I should get my self a new dishwasher before I get myself a Wii!

80 years today

Grandad Rasmussen (Kristians dad) turned 80 today!

Granny Rasmussen and her sister Dorthe were kept busy serving food to all the guests. They had an open house from 8am until 3pm. Many visitors came and went. After that it was all the family that gathered together for some hot soup.

We had such a great time chatting away. I must admit that we spent some of the time re-living the concert on Saturday. Hanna and Flemming had got a DVD that someone had recorded so we just had to check out a few of the songs again.

Happy Birthday Farfar!! Hope that you have had a wonderful day. We really enjoyed the afternoon and evening together with you!!

Aerobic time

A few of my friends from church have been wanting to lose weight, some others have just been wanting to get a bit fitter and healthier. So a few weeks ago I got an idea...why not borrow our local church and set up an aerobics class for those who were interested. It would get us fit and at the same time we could have fun and fellowship together.

Yesterday we held our first class! It was fun! I took down my computer, plugged it into the projector and before we knew it we had a life size Rosemary Conley on the wall. We moved back the chairs and while my DVD of Rosemary and her girls played, we followed along. It worked really well!!

Everyone thought it was a great workout - we had fun and people talked about how they actually had energy after doing the aerobics. Each Monday afternoon we will get together and encourage and help each other get fitter!

Last night we had a beautiful sunset. Leah and I went a walk down to her favourite tree (unfortunately my batteries went done and I couldnt get a picture of her tree.) But she has this tree that she loves to climb away up into and sit and write in her diary. Wonder what secrets are hidden in there!! It really is a nice way to end the day going for a walk around the area.

Today has also been a glorious day. After work I went a walk through the forest into the park and lake near my work. I sat there for ½ hour and just enjoyed the sun. Then Kristian came and got me. We were going up to visit some friends from our church. Kristian was borrowing their trailer for Saras go-kart race at the weekend. When we arrived they had coffee and tea ready with cake. Yummie!! Their dog had had puppies and so 9 of the cuties puppies came to greet us. Oh how tempted I was to bring one home!! haha (sorry no picture - my camera was at home!)

If you read Saturdays post you will know that we were all at a fantastic concert. Here are a few more clips from that....ENJOY!!

My wonderful crazy Danish family

Kristians mum and dad also sang along on the funny song - unfortunately I didnt get a recording of it but Kristian got a picture!

Thanks Signe for all your work and everyone else for making it such a fun night!!

Silver Wedding Concert

Kristians sister Hanne and her husband Flemming celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary today. (Congratulations you two!!)


They wanted to celebrate by doing something a bit different. They decided they wanted to hold a concert. Kristian, his brother Søren and his sister Signe were given the job to arrange the concert. Hanne and Flemming didnt want to know who would preform, it was to be a surprise for them. So the plans were made. Lots of secret practices were made over the last few months in different homes around Denmark! Finally tonight all the months of practicing and planning came together.


The Rasmussen family got all dressed and headed out to the concert. We had a FANTASTIC night!!

Why not have a little taste of what we experienced by checking out the videos below...
(the sound is not the best - I had to change the size of the videos so that I could upload them here, sorry, but at least it will give you a bit of an idea of what went on.)

Sisters Stephanie and Simone sang some wonderful pieces, what fantastic voices they both have!! Unfortunately I didnt get them on video ( dont ask me why?!! they were brilliant!)

Back to porridge

Beep...Beep...Beep...the time was 5.35am . My alarm was ringing and I needed to wake up and greet the new day, but oh how I longed to throw my alarm out the window, pull the duvet up over my head and go back to sleep. Eventually, though at 5.50am I crawled out of bed and into the shower.

Some people need coffee to wake up in the morning, for me, I need a shower! So after my shower it actually was alright being up so early. It was a beautiful morning and I was now ready to face it.

Work went well considering one colleague was off - still on holiday. Another colleague was sick and another has every Tuesday off anyway. So we were not so many to hold the fort, but we got through the day.

On the way home from work I decided to call and see an old man that I visit from time to time. He is moving house in a few weeks so I wanted to make sure I got to see him before he moved. Had a nice hour with him.

How is it that I always pick the wrong line at the supermarket. After visiting John I decided to pop into the local supermarket and get some milk. (Thought that it should take me about 5 minutes! How wrong I was!) The supermarket was packed!! I found a line at the cash desk with not sooo many people in it, but this was the one I shouldnt have picked!! - every customer had something wrong, so the cashiers bell was always ringing for help. Think the Lord is trying to teach me patients or is that patiences???? haha

It was actually nice being at the supermarket today. (even though a bit testing at the check out!) I met alot of people I "knew" - not that well - but enough to say hello and ask how things were going with them. It made me think back to the early days in Denmark. How different it was then. I could walk around for hours and not meet one single person I knew. I would shop without having a conversation with anyone and I would feel so lonely.

As I biked home today I was filled with thankfulness....I was simply thankful for those familiar faces that I can now say hello to. (Sometimes it just does you good to find the small things in life to be thankful for.)

Out and about

Its been another great day! This morning we went to church and it was a real service of thanks giving and celebration. I just think its great to know that I am forgiven! I have a Saviour who understands me, is with me, and who loves me no matter what!!



After lunch we decided that we really needed to get out into the sunshine and have some fun. Have a look at what we did!

We ate an early dinner and then decided to head out again. Have a look at where we went.....

Like I said at the start - it´s been another great day!

Food glorious food....

For those of you that dont know me that well - I LOVE FOOD!! and one of the best food experiences is to go and visit my mother-in-law. She is a wonderful cook!! (in fact she is just a wonderful lady!! I have the best mother-in-law you could wish for!)

Anyway today we went to visit Kristians parents. We had a lot of catching up to do since it has been a while since we have seen them. The food was wonderful (we werent disappointed there! oh yeah, and the company was wonderful too!!) Our neice Christine lives next door and since her parents weren´t home, she came to eat dinner too.

We had lamb done in loads of garlic - yuumhhh!! - it was good. Served with potatoes and a salad with a difference...it was just lettuce mixed in whipped cream with a bit of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar. It was different but it tasted soooo good. Along with this was served a cucumber salad. The cucumbers are marinated in vinegar and sugar....I love her cucumber salad. There was garlic bread as an extra, just in case there wasnt enough food for us all. But she needed have worried there was loads of food!



Above we are all enjoying our meal.

Below is Leah and Granny Rasmussen - who we call FARMOR (which directly translated is FathersMother)

Above is cousin Christine with Leah and Farmor (Leahs Farmor is Christines Mormor - which directly translated is Mothers mother - now work that one out!)

For dessert we had cake with cream and Danish flødeboller - they are like English tea cakes.

We had a really lovely evening with them.

Come visit Denmark

Today Kristian, Leah and me went out exploring. We picked a place on the map were we had never been and off we went on an adventure. The picnic bag was packed, the cameras were also ready - so off we went!!

We drove for about ½ hour north of where we live. We parked the car and went a walk through the forest. The weather was gorgeous!!

The forest lead down to one of the biggest lakes in Denmark.

We enjoyed our lunch by the waters edge.

Leah got to climb a few trees - something she loves. Bit of a monkey about her!!

Krisitan and I got to take the traditional picture that we take nearly everywhere we go. He holds the camera out straight in front of us, I wrap my arms around his neck - we snap and just hope that we got our heads into the picture!! haha

What a beautiful place. We really enjoyed being there.

Kristian enjoyed his "new" camera - (its actually my dads old camera!)

After a few hours at the lake we decided to head somewhere else...another place we had never been.....

Finally we were able to head somewhere else.....

It was also soooo beautiful here. We love being near water! We all had an ice cream (and very exspensive ice cream it was - £8.90 for 3 ice creams) I nearly choked when the man told me the price!! Unfortunately I couldnt give him the ice creams back - Kristian and Leah had already got stuck into theirs!!

Kristian had a traumatic experience....he saw a boat just like the one he had been out sailing on last weekend! It was Dejavu all over again!! haha

He actually found THE boat that they had been out sailing in (below). It brought a smile to his face, so it cant have been all bad!

Finally we headed home. We had a wonderful day out.

Happy Easter

I hope you all have a lovely Easter together with your families. Enjoy the break!!

Below is a beautiful song that I hope will help us all turn our thoughts toward the reason we are holding Easter. Because of what Jesus did I am a new creature - forgiven and accepted by God. I have been thinking about that a lot recently. About who I am in Christ - its really amazing - I am no longer condemned!! Gods love truly is amazing!

Kristian joins the freedom crew

Kristian has now stopped work for Easter. Today we had nothing planned...just a lazy day at home. (Something that he needed)

The weather was beautiful so Leah started her day out on the balcony writing her diary, faithful Shadow was at her feet.

Andrew was out playing paintball with some friends. Kristian painted some cars for his racing team (he painted them on the computer) and I finished off painting the picture I started yesterday.

Late afternoon we headed out to church. We had a service with communion. It was so nice to take time out and focus on the meaning of Easter. We sang some beautiful songs and it was just a really special service.

Aferwards we ate together. The food was ordered from a catering company and it was just sooo delicious. (It was so nice that we didnt have to make the food ourselves!)

Here we have Andrew getting stuck into the bread.

We only remembered to take the photo after we were finished eating. But believe me the food sure was good!

Kristian and Anne got to natter a bit but only when she wasnt running after David, who is only 1½ and wild about stairs!!

On the way home we decided to stop at McDonalds and get dessert. Ice cream sundaes all around!

Now its time to settle down and watch a film...only problem is that we cant decide what one we want to see! Love - comedy - war - umhhhhh.....it´s a hard choice. I´ll have to get back to you on what we decided.

Day 3 of Freedom

Had the urge to paint today. So once again I got the paint brushes out. I spent the morning trying to paint a bigger painting of the small one I did on Monday. Things were going well and then I did some mistakes and ruined it. (Hate when that happens - so I had to paint over the bottom half again.) Hopefully tomorrow I can try and fix it.

Had to pop into town for a while. Tomorrow and Friday the shops are closed, so I just needed to get some of the essentials.

Then Leah and I went off to riding. It was beautiful weather and the first time us mothers could stand in the stables without freezing. She went a ride in the forest on a new horse that she had never tried before. He is now her favourite horse!

Home to dinner and then I went over to visit my old lady. She is doing so much better, so we sat and had a good natter. She wanted to see pictures of the family so I had my computer with me so she could see different pictures. It was really a lovely evening.

Home to see TV with Leah and had a cosy time with her too. Then just before heading into bed I was on having a chat with Charlene, my friend from Ireland. (Thanks for the chat - I really enjoyed it.) Its surely has been a great day.

Day 2 of Freedom

When I awoke this morning I realised that once again a whole day of freedom lay before me....what bliss!!

Sara was up and about early. Her bags were packed (after about 100 times of taking things out and then putting them in again!) Her receipes were ready and so was her shopping list. Today she was leaving for Belgium! (Cant wait to hear the stories she has to tell when she comes home! Just hope no one gets food poisioning from her cooking!!) Late morning she was ready to catch the train. Before her lay a 5 hour train journey, but she was fit for fight and up for yet another adventure! (Oh to be young again!!)

Talked to her this evening and she had arrived at her destination - a town close to the German border. She enjoyed telling me that she had just had a Subway Melt with bar-be-que sauce. (We cant get Subways here in Denmark!) Must admit we were all rather jealous.

Andrew had plans with his friends, so Leah and I planned a girls day out. We took the train to a big shopping centre that is a bit further away from our town. So its one we dont visit that often. We had a great afternoon. Leah tried on loads of clothes but didnt buy anything. No bargins for us today!

We had a bite to eat before we headed over to the cinema. Its Tuesday so we get 2 into the cinema for the price of 1 (suppose in a way we did pick up a bargin!!). We went to see the film Marley and Me! It was soooo good - must admit I cried at the end and so did half the cinema. Everyone was sniffing and hands were going up to wipe tears from eyes....so I didnt feel too stupid sitting there crying quietly.

Kristian came to pick us up so we didnt have to take the train home again. I was glad he did. As soon as I got into the car I sat and totally cried my eyes out again....this time in a crazy sort of sobbing way. I had cried quietly in the cinema, just letting the tears roll down my cheeks, but there in my own car I could let it all out and I did! It felt good!! Kristian didnt even need to ask if it was a good film - my actions spoke louder than words!

Holidays sure are good!! Now what should I do tomorrow???

Freedom!!!

It´s wonderful being off work - free to do whatever I want. I could really get used to this!!

Today was a relaxing day for me, well really for us all, except Kristian. He had to go to work. He was feeling so much better this morning - no more sickness! (Maybe he should think about changing jobs and joining the navy! haha) Krisitan went off to work and me and the kids had a long lie in!!

When we did eventually start the day, Leah went out to play football with some of the kids from her class. Sara was busy getting ready for her trip to Belgium. Yes, she is off travelling again. She leaves tomorrow. There is a big race in Belgium that Sara has been wanting to see. Unfortunately she couldnt afford to go down and see it, after just being there. But you know the saying, where there´s a will there´s a way. Well Sara found a way! One of the racing teams wanted someone to come and make food for them. They asked Sara who jumped at the chance - her trip would be all paid for....so she would get to see the different races. She was so happy. Only one small detail that she forgot about - SHE CANT COOK!!!! haha Those poor people, they dont know what they are in for! Andrew spent the day hanging out with Shadow (the cat) and his computer buddies.

As for me - I decided to paint. I had a lovely afternoon painting. I tried, once again, modern art but had to give up. I just cant paint modern art. So here is what I did paint.....

When Kristian arrived home I headed out to Ikea with my friend Audry (missed you Rhona). We had a great time, as usual, walking around looking for bargins. I got new bed clothes for Leahs bed and our own bed. It cost just £8 for the two!! Now thats a bargin. Ended the night at Mcdonalds!

Weekend in photos

The weekend started already on Thursday evening for Kristian.

After dinner I drove him home to his friend Mortens house. He was staying the night there. Early next morning Mortens wife would drive Kristian, Morten and Mortens brother up to the northern part of Denmark to collect a boat that Morten had bought. The men would then sail the boat home while Mortens poor wife turned the car round and drove the 4 - 5 hour journey back home.

Things didnt work out as they planned. The plan was that they would sail Friday afternoon and be home by late Saturday night. However there was so much fog that they were only first able to set sail Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile we were having fun at home. Sara was at a friends birthday on Friday evening, Andrew was at home and Leah and I headed out. A town close by had late night shopping. Everything was open until 10pm!! So Leah and I went off exploring for bargins.

We had a great evening. Leah and I both have a thing about notebooks. I will buy notebooks just because they look pretty. So guess what we bought - yes - 2 notebooks each. (I know I need help!) We also had some delicious ice cream. Leah certainly enjoyed hers!!

Saturday was spring cleaning day. We all got into it, especially Andrew. When he cleans his room he REALLY cleans his room. Everything gets taken out and he goes to town with the duster and hoover. This was the sight that greeted me when I came home from food shopping (see below) Everything was moved from his room into the living room. But he did do a great job and so did the rest of us. We had a lovely clean house by tea time!

Christine (the kids cousin) came Saturday afternoon to hang out with Sara. She ended up staying overnight. So nice to see her.

Last night was chat night and I had a great few hours chatting to Charlene and Lorraine. We even had a mention on Saturday night fever on U105. (Thanks for the chat girls!) and for those of you who missed it, there is always next month!!

Today after church Kristian rang - he was close to home. I could now drive up and get him from his friends house. However he was feeling awful. He had been sea sick all night long. The wind had picked up and with it the swinging of the boat!! My poor husband couldnt handle it. He threw up every hour for about 12 hours!!

Funny thing is that on the way up to Mortens he suggested that me and him get a lend of the boat some weekend for at romantic weekend out at sea!! Yeah right!! what a weekend that would be!! hahaha

So he has been sleeping all afternoon on the sofa.

When I saw some of his pictures I realised why he maybe had a bit of a funny tummy!!

On the way home from church I had called into the bakery to buy a welcome home cake for him!! (so had half of our church - so funny we all bumped into each other there!) Anyway me and the kids had to eat the cake all by ourselves - terrible eh?!! (We actually didnt mind!)

..... it was sooooo yummie!!!!

And that was that weekend with The Rasmussen Family! (Not very exciting eh?! but I have to give you old faithfuls something to read!)